Linked slots machines — sometimes called wide-area progressive slot machines — are slot machines that are joined together so that, collectively and cumulatively, they offer a particularly large prize: the famed progressive "jackpot."

Each individual slot machine in the group contributes to this progressive jackpot, which is awarded to a player who gets, say, a royal flush on a progressive video poker machine or a specific combination of symbols on a progressive slot machine. The amount paid for the progressive jackpot is far greater than any single slot machine could pay on its own.

In some cases multiple online slot machines are linked across multiple online casinos. In these cases, the machines may be owned by the machine manufacturer who is responsible for paying the jackpot. In a sense, the online casinos just rent or lease the machines from the manufacturer and share in a percentage of the winnings. A well-known slot machine of this kind is Mega Moolah — produced by slot machine software maker Microgaming — with its huge multi-million-dollar jackpot. Linked online slots have a few possible levels of jackpots. The smaller jackpots (i.e., with lower limits) grow more quickly and are won more frequently. The largest jackpots are won much less often, perhaps only three or four times a year.

It goes without saying that while a progressive jackpot can reach truly massive proportions, the chances of winning it are quite small. Progressive slots are tempting but because they pay off so infrequently, it pays to mix regular online slots play with progressive slots play. On the other hand, the really popular online progressive slots games, which are being fed all the time to the tune of thousands of dollars a day at all the linked sites, grow faster and therefore pay more frequently.

Stand-alone slot machines are the counterparts of the progressive slot machines; with stand-alones the jackpots are confined to that one machine and the odds of winning at least something when you play slots online are much higher.

Because the possibility of winning a really big jackpots is so enticing, the online progressive slot machines are now among the most popular of all the online casino games. With progressive slot machine games, the sky's the limit.

Linked slot machines have gotten incredibly popular lately. The lure of the big progressive slots jackpot leaves very few players unfazed. In most cases, the maximum bet is needed to win the Big One but, even so, the investment is small considering the huge dividend. Because of this, linked slot machines — with their mammoth payoffs — will continue to draw players into their network. New progressive online slots winners are born every day.